Blogs I Follow

Month: July 2012

I should probably rename my Blog “Rant when I feel like” or “My Monthly Day-ly rant” I can’t believe that it’s been a month – sometimes life gets in the way of life.

“So meanwhile back at the lab……” (old cartoon humour)

Last Blog I ended with the clique boss, who loved to gossip about the other staff who were not in the clique. That Boss thrived on the oohs and the ahhs of the worker bee. Since I wasn’t that easily impressed – I didn’t ooh or ahh much so I was not in the clique. Let’s talk about different…..

Bosses:

The Don’t know the industry Boss: They didn’t come up in the particular industry they are in – they only know management – so when you would explain something to them, you can see the back of their head through their eyes because nothing is registering.

The I know a little but pretend to know a lot Boss: They know some jargons/terminologies they always remember the catchphrase from the last seminar – and use it repeatedly, they sometimes become autocratic – my way or the highway –highway please!

The Control Freak Boss: They may be autocratic also, but wants to be over you shoulder every minute to see what you are doing even though they have checks to sign off on or some other mundane managerial stuff. (I can call it that because I know – I now do the mundane managerial stuff for myself)

And then there’s The taking the Credit Boss – need I say more.

Let’s move on – it’s not the Bosses alone are an issue at the work place. Coworkers: some do become great friends for years – BUT then there are those that you don’t even want to pass on the street.

Coworkers:

Have you ever seen crabs in a barrel? They try to climb on each other’s back to get out but they can’t, usually it’s because their claws gets snagged by another crab trying to get out. That’s what it’s like at some work place “Crab in-a barrel” we use that phrase to describe people who pull others down to get where they want to go – but alas they get nowhere. Especially in a small company where can you go really. And yet come the very next day they try the same foolishness again. Silly crabs!

The SPY – who is also the YES-MAN – they use people, to get what they want and to get on the good side of the boss. How do they sleep at nights? I’m not sure there are any other kind (apart from the ‘good’ ones) Because the one that will ‘stab you in the back – is a spy and a yes-man. The one that takes the credit for departmental work – is a YES-MAN. And yet you can still call them crabs. Hmmmmmm I’m still thinking of other kinds….

Bullying:

There is a lot of talk in the media these days about bullying – this is not a new phenom. Bullying happens more often among adults than children – in my opinion. Bullying from the boss, bullying from fellow employees – and bullying doesn’t have to be the physical It’s the Psychological when it comes to the work place. It’s the subtle talk, whats insinuated, being berated for not being one of them or not even dressing like them. For example coworkers like to go out for drinks after work – or stay back and play games, or go to the latest network buzz fest. Personally I don’t drink, so why should I go out with you after seeing you for 8 hours of my life, which I can never get back, to have a drink? I don’t mind playing games – that can be fun. But if you are going to use this as apart of my evaluation about socializing then that’s just a bunch of malarkey! And the whole networking thing sometimes does not align with my personal belief and so therefore I avoid certain settings/situations. These are the things that are used against you sometimes, “Oh she doesn’t come to office functions, she’s anti-social” or “She only go to church functions” AND SO…. What I do with my personal time is my prerogative. It does not affect the quality of my work. Besides the point is I did socialize only with MY select few but ‘they’ didn’t know that. Tee hee hee.

6-Week Job

Anyway I said I would talk about the 6 -week work place. I think I left one job and ran into the other one too fast. “Out of the frying pan into the fire” Or INFERNO. That place was a work house – they would work late, late, late. Unpaid (yes unpaid) overtime is somewhat of a common place in the Advertising Industry here – especially if you have certain clients. I was not able to live up to that – I would rather come in as early as possible to work – but alas the AE’s wouldn’t come in til late plus they sometimes didn’t understand what the client wanted – so you would sit there and wait from 8 am until about 12pm to finally get an assignment, do it send it off and the response comes back at 7pm when I should be home eating my dinner with my family. So 3 weeks in I knew it was not the job for me and was weighing doing things on my own. However, because of divine intervention – a job presented itself to me working with someone I had worked with before (a good guy) And so I gave my two-week notice and said Adios! I wont even mention the flirtatious supervisor or the porn surfing guy or the boss telling us when the client say jump we ask how high. huh? What decade are we living in.

All my experiences have helped me and taught me something, I am going through new ones now being my own boss. One particular workplace taught me 65% of what I know and use now, because of the other set of people the ‘good’ ones – and I still have friends there that I go back to and visit time and time again. No matter how you are treated in a workplace its best never to burn bridges.